Emirates to suspend all flights into and out of Nigeria as from September 1 in response to forex crisis

EMIRATE Airlines has announced plans to suspend all flights to and from Nigeria with effect from September 1 in response to the growing currency crisis that has prevented it and other carriers from repatriating ticket sales funds from the country.

As a result of the scarcity of foreign exchange in Nigeria, at least, $600m belonging to over 20 foreign airlines has been held in the country since the beginning of the year. Because they are unable to convert their earnings from naira into dollars due to the dollar scarcity the Central Bank of Nigeria is witnessing, these airlines are unable to repatriate their funds to their home countries.

About two weeks ago, Emirates said that it had about $85m in Nigeria. According to the airline, all efforts to repatriate the funds had proved abortive and it was thus compelled to take the decision of suspending all flights into the country.

On Monday this week, Emirates cut its 11 weekly flights into Lagos airport to just seven and is now taking this a step further with an outright suspension. A company spokesman said: "Emirates has tried every avenue to address our ongoing challenges in repatriating funds from Nigeria and we have made considerable efforts to initiate dialogue with the relevant authorities for their urgent intervention to help find a viable solution.

”Regrettably, there has been no progress, therefore, Emirates has taken the difficult decision to suspend all flights to and from Nigeria, effective September 1 2022, to limit further losses and impact on our operational costs that continue to accumulate in the market. We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused to our customers, however, the circumstances are beyond our control at this stage.

"We will be working to help impacted customers make alternative travel arrangements wherever possible. Should there be any positive developments in the coming days regarding Emirates’ blocked funds in Nigeria, we will of course re-evaluate our decision.

"We remain keen to serve Nigeria and our operations provide much needed connectivity for Nigerian travellers, providing access to trade and tourism opportunities to Dubai and to our broader network of over 130 destinations.”